Comcast and NBC - No Merger, No Way

[Commentary] There's no way the Comcast-NBC merger should be allowed by federal regulators. The fundamental objection to this merger is that businesses that provide the transport of media should not be allowed to own the content that travels over their channels.

This is in keeping with fundamental beliefs that network neutrality (requiring carriers to in fact carry any legal traffic without any right of censorship) and open access (requiring any technologically-compatible subscriber unit to be used on any given network) are both central to a functioning democracy and in getting the consumer the best deal, a fundamental tenet and objective of capitalism. Say what you will about what passes for capitalism today, but this albeit imperfect system offers the widest variety of goods and services possible, with the best quality and price, thanks to the competition absent in competing economic disciplines. Someone has to be the big, dumb pipe.

Perhaps, dare I say it, the time has come for (gulp) the government to assume responsibility for basic services where competitive returns for investors can only be achieved by screwing customers -- telecommunications, banking, healthcare, utilities, and a few more. It's sad to see honest value disappearing for those who pay the bills, and the ethos of customer as prey essentially codified in practice.